Rockpoint to Develop 1.5 MSF Industrial Property

The property will be part of The Pomp, a $2 billion master-planned community being developed by The Cordish Cos. and Caesars Entertainment. Image courtesy of The Cordish Cos.

Boston-based real estate private equity firm Rockpoint will develop an approximately 1.5 million-square-foot industrial property in the Pompano Beach submarket of Broward County, Fla.

The 87.8-acre site is part of The Pomp, a $2 billion, 223-acre master-planned, mixed-use development in Pompano Beach unveiled by The Cordish Cos. and Caesars Entertainment last May.

Rockpoint described the industrial development location as “one of the last remaining infill trophy development sites of its size in South Florida, a region that continues to experience significant industrial rent growth due to ongoing supply constraints and consistently high demand for space.”

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Rendering of Rockpoint’s 1.5 million-square-foot industrial property within The Pomp master-planned community. Image courtesy of Rockpoint

Site work for the industrial project is scheduled to start next May, as the first phase of a three-phase development timeline. Rockpoint’s dedicated property services affiliate, Rockhill Management, will work with Cordish and Caesars to lead the project’s construction and management.

The Pomp is at Atlantic Boulevard and Powerline Road, 20 minutes from downtown Fort Lauderdale and 40 minutes from downtown Miami and downtown Palm Beach. Ultimately, it’s intended to encompass more than 10 million square feet of entertainment, hospitality, retail and residential uses. The space for retail anchor TopGolf will be opening shortly and development of the Live! entertainment district is underway.

Fort Lauderdale’s industrial market

In a prepared statement, Tom Gilbane, a managing member at Rockpoint, referred to the Fort Lauderdale industrial market as “important and undersupplied” and experiencing “historically low vacancy levels coupled with continued high demand.”

The metro Fort Lauderdale industrial space market is thriving, with tenant demand having risen by 19.7 percent year-over-year, according to a third-quarter report from Avison Young. Leasing activity in the past quarter surged to 1.9 million square feet, as vacancy declined to 3.3 percent.

In the Pompano Beach submarket, total vacancy is 4.8 percent, with little change since the second quarter or year-over-year, on an inventory of 30 million square feet. The average annual direct asking rent is $15.94 per square foot, triple net.